Critical Care & Trauma
Overview
The Critical Care & Trauma division conducts research that provides the best evidence to guide global health decisions. This is achieved through conducting multi-national large-scale high quality, investigator-initiated research in areas where evidence is lacking or is insufficient for effective practice.
The programs in the division focus on both critical care as well as trauma research with the aim to strengthen the health system in Australia and globally by providing evidence for better patient outcome and more effective use of health resources.
Critical Care
Critical care research focuses on all aspects of the management of critically ill patients from the pre-hospital phase through hospital management, recovery, rehabilitation and long term health related functional recovery and quality of life.
Trauma Care
Trauma care research focuses more specifically on the impact of traumatic injury to the patient. The focus of trauma care research is currently in relation to trauma systems with a particular emphasis on the pre-hospital care area, ensuring that the right patient gets to the right hospital in the shortest amount of time to ensure the best outcomes. The focus on trauma management reflects the paucity of research in this area and the need to implement effective evidence-based trauma care.
Current Research Programs
Currently, the research activity of the division is divided into three programs, Clinical Research, Health Services Research and Health Economics. The division is also exploring ways by which research activity in resource poor settings can be increased.
Clinical Research Program
The division has an international reputation for conducting high quality investigator-initiated randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, observational and prospective studies. The division has already delivered on a number of large-scale, priority-driven studies in critical care. This program has been developed to answer questions confronting health care providers and affecting patient outcomes.
Health Services Research Program
The Critical Care & Trauma division is working towards establishing collaborative projects in health services research to provide more evidence for improving health systems in Australia and globally.
Health Economics Research Program
The Critical Care & Trauma division aims to conduct health economics studies and engage in studies that improve the ability to enact change.
New Initiatives
The China Trauma Collaboration
This multi-stage initiative is a collaboration involving a number of hospital emergency departments in China and The George Institute, China. A key objective is to develop an on-going registry based study that will serve as a platform for identifying and addressing future challenges in trauma care.